Beginner Gardening Vegetables

Is it just me or is every melinnial trying to garden? (Yes that’s me, I’m a 30 something melinnial) .

I started trying to garden when I lived in a small upstairs apartment in Fresno. My first attempt at gardening was a huge failure. I saw a bunch of inspiration on pinterest with apartment gardens or patio gardens so I thought “I can do that! Get the containers, plant the plants, water, and watch them grow” . Oh man was I so wrong! My garden died within weeks. Ultimately my patio was just too hot. All the plants got burnt and died :(

Fast forward a few years and I moved into my own home on a quarter acre. I was so excited to try a garden again. You see, I’ve always wanted to be able to provide for myself even if it is just in the smallest amount and I’ve always wanted to live off the land.

So with this garden I made some raised garden beds. If you need inspo or a super easy way to make a raised garden bed check out this post here:

How to make a simple raised garden bed

Then I put in a watering drip system, planted the plants, and watched every day to see how everything was doing. I’m not joking when I say everyday. I went into my garden multiple times a day just to look…. like something might change in a few hour lol. This year my garden was a pretty great success.

After that successful year my gardening has been up and down. We’ve had good seasons and bad seasons. I’ve been learning by testing things out and a whole lot of trial and error. During all of this I have found some vegetables that are super easy to grow and perfect for a beginner gardener to see success.

So before we dive in lets talk about what you are going to need to start your garden:

How to start a garden and tools needed:

1.Somewhere to plant your plants. This could be a raised bed, this could be containers, or this could be just an area on your property

2. A watering system. You can do this however you want. I do a variety of hand watering, a sprinkler system, and a drip system.

3. Gardening tools. You definitely need a shovel and some clippers. I like the orange ones so then that way you can find them again once you set them down. Believe you…. you will set them down and not be able to find them so the bright colored ones are the best.

4. Dirt! You are going to need dirt to plant your plants in. I buy a variety of gardening dirt, compost, and manure. You can find this at your local outdoor store (Lowes, Home Depot, a local nursery.)

So now that we know some of the things you will need to start a garden lets get into what to plant!

Beginner Gardening Vegetables:

Beet’s:

I have been able to grow beats every year which has been awesome because I absolutely love beets. If you want to grow beets make sure to buy the seed and not the plant.

Carrots:

Carrots are great to grow from seed as well.

Radishes:

I love fresh radishes in my salads or sliced with just some salt on top. The thing about radishes and growing them is they do take up a bit of space for not much veggie yield. That might just be me though because I can eat 10 radishes in a single sitting. So something to think about there

Lettuce:

PLANT THE LETTUCE! This year I planted lettuce and it was the easiest thing I have grown to date. I really don’t know why I didn’t plant lettuce earlier. Make sure to plant lettuce by seed. There is absolutely no reason to buy the plant. Lettuce grows super easy and likes a little bit of shade and sun combined so the placement of lettuce is easier as well. You don’t have to worry about having to have 10 hours of direct sunlight.

Zucchini:

Zucchini was the first thing I was able to be incredibly successful with. I had zucchini running out my ears. I started to have to figure out ways to use zucchini , googled new recipes, etc. With Zucchini buy the plant and give it a lot of space. The plant gets pretty darn big.

Squash:

This is the same as zucchini for me. I have been pretty successful in the yellow squash realm. Again, make sure to buy the plant.

Tomatoes:

Tomato plants are pretty easy to grow. You will want to buy the plant rather than planting by seed. With tomatoes make sure you have something to protect them with. Deer, raccoons, and rats love to eat the tomatoes while they are on the vine. There is nothing as disappointing as seeing one of your tomatoes turning red only to see it gone in the morning.

Herbs:

Buy all the herb plants! They grow great and are incredibly satisfying as a beginner gardener

Flowers:

In the beginning of my gardening journey I really didn’t even think about flowers. I only thought about vegetable plants. Well, you need flowers. First of all they are just pretty and make you happy. Second, some of them actually deter pests. Third, they attract pollinators! They are a win win win!

Pin the image below to save for later!

So if you are trying to start a vegetable garden and you are a beginner try these vegetables first! They are going to help you be successful, get amazing crops, and boost your gardening self esteem to continue to garden!

Have you been trying to garden? Comment below. I’d love to hear your experiences, favorite vegetables, and just all the gardening things.

Happy gardening!

Bess